First off, not looking for any advice or new cars.... but the chaos is over.

After crunching some numbers and taking a look at our finances figured selling mine and driving hers would make the most sense (... and be the most boring).

Sold my IS today for exactly what I paid two years ago (but did put some money into it). The plan isn't to buy something new, but rather pay off what we both owed on our cars, drive her Accord for the next year or until we move out of downtown. Doing this means I'm putting like 5k in the bank and between payments and insurance frees up like $800/mo.... while we're saving for a house, it makes sense.

Thanks everyone in the past 5+ threads about me being scatter brained with cars.... I should be done for a while..... unless.....

being "boring" can seem lame in your 20s, but taking those kind of sound financial steps early will pay dividends later on. I'm amazed sometimes at how many of my 40-something friends are still living paycheck to paycheck.

It was tough to see it go today, but since we started putting 100% of her salary away for a down-payment and living solely on my income and trying to cover rent + bills + car payments + living costs (food and etc) + school loans meant I had like no money to have fun with.... which, well, wasn't very fun.

Hopefully the extra cash will allow me to not have to think twice about buying this or that for myself.... I had a long internal struggle whether to get a new GPU for my computer because of the new budget we've got....

I went boring this year as well. I traded in my Infiniti G35 on a '13 Accord Sport. I didn't really need the money but was tired of getting 18mpg driving about 25k a year. Other than I would agree that mine also sucks in the snow, I haven't regretted it for a second. I think if I would have had an $800 payment/insurance on my Infiniti, it would have gone bye-bye a long time ago! Ouch. My current insurance on my Accord is $44/month, life is good.

At lunch today I passed an Acura dealer and drove through for kicks, a shiny "new to them" RL had just been traded... was through inspection and about to be cleaned up, so I asked about it.

2005 RL with 106k miles. One owner, bought it from them years ago, had 100% of the service done there (all records kept), just got the 105k service (timing elements / water pump / transmission / etc etc big items) and had 100% brand new tires.... the car was spotless too. Fully loaded, AWD, and everything was in perfect condition - the leather looked like a week old.

I asked a price and they didn't have one yet but would take an offer.... I suggested the 03' accord + 5k and I would buy it that night. They called me like 45 mins later (assume after checking my VIN) and agreed. I like to think the car was 12k and my accord was worth 7k to them. Came back with my fiance so she could see it, she didn't hate it and gave me the green light.... drove it home this evening.

My logic was that the accord was at 90k, so in the next year I would be breaking the 100k barrier meant that it was going to lose about $1400 (from NADA / KBB), Also my 105k service would be coming (~$1400 from indie shop for all), two of the tires on the accord were one their last leg (replace all for ~$400). So in the next year was going to take a major hit by going over 100k, and have around $2000 in tires / maintenance coming. So just like that I was really on 2k off the RL because these items were done but I was also adding the extra of the RL (loaded car + awd + 140 extra HP makes it much more fun to drive).

Hopefully since it was perfectly maintained and essentially a honda it should last me into 200k.

At lunch today I passed an Acura dealer and drove through for kicks, a shiny "new to them" RL had just been traded... was through inspection and about to be cleaned up, so I asked about it.

2005 RL with 106k miles. One owner, bought it from them years ago, had 100% of the service done there (all records kept), just got the 105k service (timing elements / water pump / transmission / etc etc big items) and had 100% brand new tires.... the car was spotless too. Fully loaded, AWD, and everything was in perfect condition - the leather looked like a week old.

I asked a price and they didn't have one yet but would take an offer.... I suggested the 03' accord + 5k and I would buy it that night. They called me like 45 mins later (assume after checking my VIN) and agreed. I like to think the car was 12k and my accord was worth 7k to them. Came back with my fiance so she could see it, she didn't hate it and gave me the green light.... drove it home this evening.

My logic was that the accord was at 90k, so in the next year I would be breaking the 100k barrier meant that it was going to lose about $1400 (from NADA / KBB), Also my 105k service would be coming (~$1400 from indie shop for all), two of the tires on the accord were one their last leg (replace all for ~$400). So in the next year was going to take a major hit by going over 100k, and have around $2000 in tires / maintenance coming. So just like that I was really on 2k off the RL because these items were done but I was also adding the extra of the RL (loaded car + awd + 140 extra HP makes it much more fun to drive).

Hopefully since it was perfectly maintained and essentially a honda it should last me into 200k.

Sounds like you made a good compromise between finances and a luxury sedan, congrats! Post some pics

I did the same thing recently with my wife's MDX. The car was a lemon from the start (bought it before I met her) and had constant electrical and suspension issues. She wanted something with a warranty and better MPG but didnt want a car payment. I started doing the numbers and found we were putting an average 100 a month into repair issues, plus she had a timing belt and major maintenance due soon.

She wanted a car with leather/heated seats/nav/v6/4 doors and a warranty for less than 19,000. Seemed next to impossible.

I found a used lexus is250 for sale which was a private party and meticulously taken care of. 59k miles, Included a transferrable 100k mile bumper to bumper warranty. Ended up picking it up for 18500. Sold her MDX for 11,500 and while we had the cash to pay the difference decided to just finance the 7k since interest was so low and use our cash elsewhere. Ended up being about $100/mo payment and a TOTAL interest (over the life of loan) of $500. No brainer. She averages 28mpg while the MDX averaged 18mpg. The gas savings ALONE makes up the monthly payment.

I was when I had the IS2, but now looks like I need to find an Acura forum.

Quote:

Sometimes, its smart to upgrade as in your case and my scenario

I think we made the right move.... Having to put close to $2,000 into a car worth $7,000 at best didn't seem worth it. I fiddled at lunch with all the gizmos, there was some amazing technology in this car at the time it came out.

Like you were saying, our payment / the interest is so small that it seemed stupid not to at the time. I could have paid cash but I have a savings account that I like to keep at 10k for "oh ****" stuff, and it would have cut that in half.

Oh I remember the days when I wrapped my mind around how buying a new more expensive car was somehow going to save me money...

With up coming maintenance it was a essentially a wash... but now I don't have the headache of actually going to do it myself (hard given current living situation) or taking it in.

Rewind to a few weeks ago when we still had two cars... I now have an extra 5k in savings than I use to, instead of $800/mo. going towards car related costs it is now $200 and I have a vehicle I enjoy driving.... with no major foreseen expenses in the next 40k miles (as were the accord would have had 105k major maintenance, tires, brakes, tranny fluid).

All in all I think playing musical chairs with them worked out for the best.... and the fiance seems to really like the new car now. Last night was the first time in a LONG time she actually wanted to drive somewhere... usually I get stuck doing that.

I remember when I used to try to convince myself I would keep cars a long time.. You remind me of me myself many years ago.. All of the justifications included..

Haha
It helps me sleep at night.

We still need to get that beer. I would say lets catch the Wolves game tonight (tickets were going for $1) but I think I have a soccer game at 8:00... My fiance is a big Dirk fan, so we may try and scoop up some of the courtside seats for that game - All you can drink and eat!

is this the real reason you went for it? I get the maintenence costs you had factored, but in reality, you traded your car in, and are essentially $3k plus further from buying your home. I get that you are young, and enjoy driving a "fun" vehicle, but at some point you need to factor in long term thoughts. you are clearly ahead of the game, as far as so many people your age, but in this economy, you cant just think, well its only $3k out of my pocket. you have up coming wedding expenses, honeymoon expenses, home owner expenses, and somewhere down the road, perhaps kids. kids aint cheap!! having fun is one thing, but I have a ton of friends who made similar choices as you have in years past, and are struggling some ten years later. secure jobs went bye bye, divorce, special needs kids. all of these factors that you dont really think about when your life is perfect.
good for you in your current success Nick, but please dont forget about the long term as well.

Part of it all happening was the following email I got from her (excuse her CAPS LOCK)

Quote:

YOU ARE GOING ON A DIET AND A RUNNING WITH ME FOR THE NEXT 7 MONTHS IF WE DO THIS.
NO MORE DEW.
NO MORE BEING A LAZY PILE
LEAN MEATS
VEGETABLES
LESS CARBS

In doing this I will start bringing my lunch to work. I've been spending like ~$40/wk. on eating out for lunch... so just like that I've covered the tiny payment, and it will help ensure the "healthy eating".

You're right though, 3k is a lot of money and if I was being 100% conservative, keeping the accord or selling it for something even lesser would probably have been the right choice. I spend a LOT less time in the car with my new job, but this vehicle is so much more comfortable.... the accord's driver seat recline motor was out so the seat was stuck like straight up and down, awful to drive for more than like 30 minutes for someone my size.

I keep track of the cost of our vehicles. Below is a little tabulation I did awhile ago on the cost of owning a vehicle through its life (for me), my car has 240,000 miles on it and I bought it new in 2002, so yes, people do keep these things that long. My truck has 265K on it.

2002 Malibu: $12500
Interest on loan: $2200
Insurance: $4320
Tabs: $1000—roughly, not sure when they dropped to $40/year for me.
Fuel: $25178: based on 28mpg life time average I’ve had with my car.
Repairs: $3000 (estimated to the best of my knowledge)
Tires: $1500
Brakes: $700
Total: $50,398 dollars over the 120 months I’ve had this car. That is $419/month, or if you divide it out to mileage it’s $.20/mile to own the car for 10 years all costs included.